OECD: UK economy to take world’s biggest hit from Covid-19 June 10, 2020 The UK will suffer the largest economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic among major nations this year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has warned. Predicting that the UK economy could contract between 11.5 and 14 per cent in 2020, the organisation said Covid-19 represents the biggest peacetime economic downturn in a century [...]
US inflation falls for third straight month as coronavirus hammers economy June 10, 2020 US consumer prices fell for a third straight month in May and underlying inflation was weak as demand remained subdued amid the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell 0.1 per cent in May, after decreasing 0.8 per cent in April, new figures from the US Labour Department showed. Read [...]
FOMC decision: Four things to expect from the Federal Reserve’s June meeting June 10, 2020 Policymakers at the US Federal Reserve are set to publish their first set of economic projections of 2020 later today when the Open Market Committee (FOMC) makes its June decision. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates near zero at its FOMC June decision. But all eyes are on the meeting for [...]
Get the Bank of England focused on the real economy June 10, 2020 Economic policy is returning to its usual position of prominence. Fears of a major rise in unemployment are starting to worry the government more than fears around Covid-19. The chancellor’s imaginative schemes concerning furlough and other measures to protect jobs create potential problems elsewhere. So much money is being borrowed that the ratio of public [...]
EU must boost capital markets due to coronavirus and Brexit, say finance chiefs June 10, 2020 The European Union needs to deregulate its capital markets to help the economy recover from coronavirus and reduce its reliance on the City of London, according to a panel of industry executives. With huge amounts of debt being sold to counter the economic hit caused by Covid-19 and the bloc set to lose its major [...]
Let the economy reboot itself June 10, 2020 How can the government best support the UK’s economic recovery after the crushing impact of the pandemic? Today, the Institute of Economic Affairs and Civitas are publishing a joint report on the economics of the Covid-19 crisis, written by Professor Len Shackleton and myself. Many are arguing that the crisis has demonstrated the need for [...]
Coronavirus: UK economy set for ‘most severe downturn in modern times’ June 10, 2020 The coronavirus pandemic has dragged the UK into the “most severe economic downturn in modern times” with the economy set to contract over seven per cent this year, new forecasts suggest. The UK economy is expected to shrink 7.2 per cent in 2020 and is unlikely to fully recover from the impact of Covid-19 until [...]
BoE’s Cunliffe anticipates ‘great deal of pain’ for financial sector June 9, 2020 The initial shock of the pandemic to the financial system may have passed but another abrupt repricing of risk is possible, according to the Bank of England’s (BoE) deputy governor. “The first phase – the initial shock and adjustment to a far more challenging economic outlook in the near term – has passed,” Sir Jon [...]
Coronavirus unemployment could take seven years to rebound, says think tank June 9, 2020 Levels of unemployment could take seven years to be restored to pre-coronavirus levels, according to a leading UK think tank. Torsten Bell, chief executive at The Resolution Foundation, said today there had been “way too much talk of a v-shaped [economic] recovery” and that based on historical precedents it will take almost a decade for [...]
Eurozone economy shrank less than expected in coronavirus quarter June 9, 2020 The Eurozone economy shrank less than expected in the coronavirus-struck first quarter of 2020, data released today confirmed. The bloc’s economy shrank by 3.6 per cent since the last quarter of 2019, compared to a preliminary report in May that put the drop at 3.8 per cent. Eurozone GDP was 3.1 per cent lower than [...]